Clorama Dorvilias and I are thrilled to announce that Teacher’s Lens is freely available in the Oculus store. Clorama and I met June 2017 at Oculus Launch Pad and formed a bond over our interest in de-biasing public school teachers using a VR experience.

40 years of education research has demonstrated that TEACHER EXPECTATIONS PREDICT STUDENT PERFORMANCE[1]. It’s a stronger factor than their level of subject knowledge, their training…even home and family conditions are weaker influences of student success compared to teacher’s belief in them. And secondly, white teachers have systematically lower expectations of Black and Latino students [2] and female students in STEM classes by as much as 30% [3] [4] & [5]. What does this mean when classrooms are projected to grow to 50% students of color by 2020? So we went about trying to make an experience that would increase teacher’s expectations of all of their students. Teacher expectations are a lens to students and it can mean the difference between a student being labeled enthusiastic or disruptive. Black and Latino students are disciplined at high rates and tracked into fewer AP classes so there are very high stakes in teacher decision-making.

Clorama, DEBIAS VR CEO, explains our solution:

“Leveraging VR technology, we believe we can restore equity in the classroom using evidence based training simulations, proven to reduce hidden bias in teachers that lead to better student outcomes.

Teacher’s Lens is the first VR solution to be implemented that allows for measurable training towards diversity & inclusion goals. It’s not only proven to be a more engaging tool to handle these tough topics, but it also allows for corporations and educational institutions to measure impact, track progress, and collect data to inform more effective initiatives addressing these very real problems.

Debias VR is committed to creating experiential learning that promises to deliver research driven positive play to reduce bias and promote inclusive behavior. ”

Teacher’s Lens takes a unique approach to bias training in VR. This app is just a glance of the potential for immersive VR to better engage users with elements of playfulness to address tough topics.

Help us make it better by downloading the app for the Oculus Rift and tell us what you think! Tweet your comments to @debiasvr on Twitter and follow @creativeclo for product updates. You can read the other coverage of the app from the Oculus and Unity developer blogs.

And if you would like to speak with us about creating customized de-biasing trainings for you, contact us here.

Working together with Clorama on this project has been an amazing opportunity and I’m grateful to her for her friendship, technical capabilities, and leadership to make this app happen.

The Extended Mind is a Portland-based research firm that applies behavioral science to increase user engagement in immersive technologies. Jessica Outlaw, the founder of The Extended Mind, is also a winner of the 2017 Oculus Launch Pad competition.